[1] Maïga has worked with major auteurs like Michael Haneke, Abderrahmane Sissako and Michel Gondry, and recently starred in Chiwetel Ejiofor’s directorial debut.

Maïga was inspired to speak out and create the DiasporAct collective after realising she was often the sole performer of colour to receive top billing and awards season attention—despite the abundance of diverse talent around her.

[5][6] Maïga landed a role alongside Yvan Attal in Denis Amart's Saraka Bô (1996), her acting was well received, and she went on to play a rebellious young girl in Michael Haneke's Code Unknown (2000) and his later film Caché (2005).

[7] Maïga co-starred with Chiwetel Ejiofor in his joint film with Netflix set during the Malawian food crisis in the 2000s, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019).

The group consists of Maïga, Nadège Beausson-Diagne, Mata Gabin, Maïmouna Gueye, Eye Haïdara, Rachel Khan, Sara Martins, Marie-Philomène Nga, Sabine Pakora, Firmine Richard, Sonia Rolland, Magaajyia Silberfeld, Shirley Souagnon, Assa Sylla, Karidja Touré, and France Zobda.

[3] The group of women stood at the top of the red carpet steps at the festival and raised their fists while dancing joyously to the Rihanna song Diamonds to protest the racial bias and discrimination that is rampant within the French film industry.

[19] During a press conference that featured the group, Maïga told Agence France-Presse that setting up a racial quota in the French film industry is a potential option for combating the lack of onscreen diversity, and acknowledged that this could spark strong opposition in France.

[20] All members of the group wore matching black and white[15] ensembles created by Balmain's mixed-race designer Olivier Rousteing who told Vogue:“I think we are really at a huge turning point in every industry, whether film, or fashion, or music.

I believe in the power of women, I have since I was a little boy, and this moment means a lot to me.”[20]The clear message of the protest, combined with the recently released book to back it up, was met positively—the consequent media reports talked of their beauty, style and courage.

Here Maïga (along with singer Zazie, international fencing champion Laura Flessel, former midwife Mathilde de Calan who works at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and AMREF France's Haweya Mohamed) met Ugandan midwife Esther Madudu at the Katine Health Centre, took part in an outreach mission, and visited the Masaka School of Midwifery and Comprehensive Nursing in Kampala and the Tiriri Health Centre IV in Soroti.